24. Some Fijian Nudibranchs (and a Platyhelminth)

This post is photographic, fruits of a recent trip to Fiji. All the photos were taken in Bligh Waters, and all had some added light. Many of the animals were spotted, at a considerable distance, by Jesse of the Wananavu dive boat. The captions describe the photo above in each case. This is Reticulidia halgerda.

I think this is Goniobranchus, perhaps G. geometricus in a different color form from those seen round Sydney.

Thysanozoon nigropapillosum. This one’s a Platyhelminth, from an entirely different phylum. Nudibranchs are molluscs.

Another Phyllidiella species, I think, though this is a tricky group. (Identifications and corrections are welcome.)

Lastly, a shot above the coral in Bligh Waters.

_____________

Notes

* An inadvertent synonym (in the biologist’s sense of “synonym”) of “Phyllidiella pustulosa” is the very different “Phyllidiella nobilis” – as if the taxonomists were trying, belatedly, to make it up to the nudibranchs. But pustulosa had priority, and nobilis has been rejected.